Cajuns Men’s Basketball Season Ends Against South Alabama

The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns season came to an end on Thursday in their first game of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament as they fell 70-69 to the South Alabama Jaguars.

The Cajuns got off to an ice-cold start to this one as their passes were a little sloppy and turned the ball over a handful of times as they trailed 8-2 at the first media timeout.

Louisiana was able to recover from their early struggles and played it closed for the remainder of the first half as they were able to take a couple of quick leads. However, as they played down the stretch the game was mainly tied.

The teams went into the halftime locker room tied 33-33.

As we got halfway through the second half the game remained tough and tight as no one could grab control of this game. Ross Cook put it best when he said that the momentum in the game was flowing like the winds up in New Orleans.

As we came down the stretch the Cajuns were down by four under four minutes to go when Cedric Russell hit a big three to pull UL within one point with their season on the line. They were able to grab the lead briefly when Marcus Stroman stole the ball and took it the other way for a layup. 67-66 UL.

That didn't last long as South Alabama's Herb McGee nailed a three with just over two minutes to go to take a 69-67 lead for the Jags. Louisiana would tie the game with a Jakeenan Gant layup but he would miss the front end of a one and one that would cost the Cajuns.

As the game was coming down to the wire the Jags Rodrick Sikes got fouled by P.J. Hardy and made one of two free throws to give South Al a 70-69 lead.

The Cajuns raced it across halfcourt with four seconds to go, called a timeout to set their offense with 1.8 remaining, and Cedric Russell got a great look from three but shot it a bit too strong just off the back rim and out. With that, the season was over...

Jakeenan Gant led the way for the Cajuns scoring 26 points, shot 3-3 from downtown, and grabbed 12 rebounds. Jerekius Davis poured in 17 and eight rebounds and Marcus Stroman scored four points and dished out 13 assists. Cedric Russell had 10 points but shot just 1-8 from three on this night.

The Cajuns finish the season 19-13 overall and 10-9 in Sun Belt Conference play.

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